Islamic extremism must be contained after attack : UK leader

Islamic extremism must be contained after attack : UK leader

LONDON, June 4 (Punjab Mail)- Prime Minister Theresa May called Sunday for tougher measures to contain Islamic extremism in Britain after an attack that killed seven people in a busy area of London and disrupted Britain’s election campaign just days before a nationwide vote.
The assault began Saturday night when a van veered off the road and barreled into pedestrians on busy London Bridge. Three men fled the van with large knives and attacked people at bars and restaurants in nearby Borough Market, police and witnesses said. The attack unfolded quickly, and police said officers shot and killed the three attackers within eight minutes.
Emergency officials said 48 people were treated at London hospitals, including some with life-threatening injuries, and a number of others suffered less serious injuries.
It was the third attack in Britain in the past three months. Britain was already on edge after a suicide bombing two weeks ago at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, in northwest England, that killed 22 people and injured dozens of others. Grande and other stars are scheduled to perform a benefit concert for victims under tight security in Manchester Sunday night.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the Manchester bombing, but there has not yet been a claim of responsibility for the London attack, which the prime minister linked to Islamic extremism.
May, facing an election Thursday, said the recent attacks, including an earlier one outside Parliament in March, are not directly connected, but that “terrorism breeds terrorism” and attackers copy one another. She also said five credible plots have been disrupted since March.
“They are bound together by the single evil ideology of Islamist extremism that preaches hatred, sows division, and promotes sectarianism,” she said. “It is an ideology that claims our W It was the third attack to hit Britain in as many months.
In March, a British convert to Islam ran down people with a vehicle on Westminster Bridge, killing four before fatally stabbing a policeman on Parliament’s grounds.
Then came the May 22 Manchester concert bombing. After that attack, Britain’s official terrorism threat level was raised from “severe” to “critical,” meaning an attack may be imminent. Several days later it was lowered again to “severe,” meaning an attack is highly likely.
May called on international communications companies to do more to block cyberspace to extremist groups who use it for recruitment and for encrypted information about plots.
She called for international agreements to regulate cyberspace and said Britain needs to become more robust at preventing the internet from being used to the advantage of extremist groups.
The British government has long sought more help from internet companies like Facebook and Google in the battle against extremism.
May spoke defiantly about protecting Britain’s democracy — and vowed the election would go ahead as planned — after the violence turned a balmy summer night in an area packed with revelers into a scene of bloodshed and chaos, with officers running through crowded streets screaming for people to flee.
Boats on the River Thames helped evacuate the area, which is popular with tourists. It remained closed off Sunday as police urged residents and tourists to stay away.
May said the men attacked “innocent and unarmed civilians” in crowded Borough Market with blades and knives. She said they were wearing what appeared to be explosive vests, but police determined those were only meant to sow panic and fear.
Major parties suspended national campaigning Sunday out of respect for the victims, although the rightwing UK Independence Party said it would keep campaigning to show the extremists they couldn’t sidetrack democracy.
May’s Conservative Party had been expected to win by a wide margin but recent polls have showed the race tightening considerably. It is unclear how the unprecedented violence in the run-up to the election will impact voter sentiment.